Looking for an ereader for my father (but without restrictions)

[Pathtek4]

Hey all,

Not an eReader user by any means, so I'm pretty clueless on the topic.

Basically is there any particular eReader that will be more DRM friendly than others?

My father is a huge reader, his house is a library but is exploring the option of going paperless since he spends most of his aging years at fast food chains sitting there 4 hours at a shot reading. Strange, you bet ya.

His major concern is he wants an eReader but doesn't want to get locked into a certain online book library, and wants to be able to use file formats across the different stores. I think you have an idea of what I'm getting at.

Figured this would be the place to ask.

Thanks very much

[susan_cassidy]

Ereaders that support DRM only support one flavor of DRM. Unless you get a tablet, and install multiple apps from multiple retailers (like the Kindle app and an ePub app).

Most books (except for a few independently published books) are available in both ePub and Kindle format, so where you buy books isn't much of an issue. Also, the major publishers set the prices, so it doesn't matter where you buy the book, you will pay the same price.

Personally, for the buying environment, customer support, and ease of use, I prefer Amazon/Kindle, but others prefer the various ePub readers (Sony, Nook, etc.).

[Billi]

I don't think that there are any ebook readers that are more drm friendly than others.
On the one side you have Amazon with mobipocket files and it's huge shop behind but you are a little bit restricted to one shop.
On the other side you have a number of epub devices like Sony, Kobo, you have more shops to choose from.
I don't know where you live, if removing copy right protection for personal use is allowed in your country and if you or your father want to go this way. From a technical point of view, it is no problem, google for apprentice alf and how to use it with calibre.

I would suggest that you don't care about drm-friendliness and so on. It is an annoyance in any case. Look, which reader your father likes best, from the handling, from the screen, from the fonts, from loading and buying books.

[Teknikal]

If I was buying for myself I'd buy Sony everytime as I think it's more open but if I was purchasing for my parents I'd definitely go the kindle route for the sole reason I think it would simplify everything for them.

Then again the Sony Reader store isn't available to me in the UK yet so I don't know if it would change my mind.

[Barbara1955]

TABLET! You can put the different FREE apps on it giving him the freedom to buy eBooks from any store! I just got a Coby $100 Love it! No its not crazy...sounds like he lonely. I had an uncle that would sit hours downtown & People watch! He worked nite shift ...wife worked days! No Kids! Back then no computers ereaders & tv was b&w He died 2 yrs ago at 85. Sad....

[susan_cassidy]

And, by the way, there are other places you can buy/acquire books from for a Kindle, other than Amazon: Smashwords, Baen Books, all the public domain sites like mobileread, gutenberg, manybooks.net, feedbooks.com, some Romance publishers (your father is probably not interested in those), Phoenix Pick, etc.

[speakingtohe]

And of course there is your local library, which may have a big selection of ebooks. Sony PRS-T1 is possibly best for this as books can be downloaded directly to reader.

That said, I bought my mother (87) a kindle 3 and she loves it.

Helen

[Pathtek4]

First off, thank you all for replying, I greatly appreciate it.

He has a online stock of downloaded book content but found messing with my sisters Amazon Kindle that there wasn't a way to put these files on it.
Now I never tried personally, but could probably find the programs and do it, but that would require me to teach him something that frankly I don't have time for (2 babies at home), and he knows that.

So without money being an option, a Tablet could work, but I think its overkill since he doesn't plan on using apps or wifi (which drives me insane, but like I said, he doesn't have a social life, so doesn't do that stuff). He reads and reads and reads.

I'm back at an eReader, but something that will allow for him to hook up to his computer and transfer any format to (if he has to convert it, he can do that) because while he may start buying from a book store, my sister is the Director at the local libraries in the area and they have an online catalog

[Billi]

Originally Posted by Pathtek4

because while he may start buying from a book store, my sister is the Director at the local libraries in the area and they have an online catalog

Then you should buy a reader that supports epub drm.

You can buy a Sony PRS-T1 or Kobo.
If you don't mind buying from a smaller company then you can choose a Pocketbook 612 or a Onyx Boox A62/i62. These devices read the greatest variety of formats.

[susan_cassidy]

It sounds like he has books in ePub format, if they don't work on Kindle. Conversion of those is easy with Calibre.

On the one hand, you said "Now I never tried personally, but could probably find the programs and do it, but that would require me to teach him something that frankly I don't have time for (2 babies at home), and he knows that", and then later you said "if he has to convert it, he can do that", which makes me wonder which is the case: can he convert formats or not?

Depending on where he downloaded the books from, he may be able to re-download them in a different format (the public domain sites, for example).

I seldom turn on the wifi on my iPad, but I play several games on it, so you might want to still consider that, because of being able to use any ebook site on one. They are fairly expensive, though.

Like I said, no straight reader will support both DRM formats, so you are going to have to choose: Adobe or Kindle. I still say that the Kindle environment is the easiest to use, especially if you get a 3G one - no wifi required, assuming that you are in an AT&T coverage area. Sideloading is easy, too, via USB connection.

[Pathtek4]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

It sounds like he has books in ePub format, if they don't work on Kindle. Conversion of those is easy with Calibre.

On the one hand, you said "Now I never tried personally, but could probably find the programs and do it, but that would require me to teach him something that frankly I don't have time for (2 babies at home), and he knows that", and then later you said "if he has to convert it, he can do that", which makes me wonder which is the case: can he convert formats or not?

Depending on where he downloaded the books from, he may be able to re-download them in a different format (the public domain sites, for example).

I seldom turn on the wifi on my iPad, but I play several games on it, so you might want to still consider that, because of being able to use any ebook site on one. They are fairly expensive, though.

Like I said, no straight reader will support both DRM formats, so you are going to have to choose: Adobe or Kindle. I still say that the Kindle environment is the easiest to use, especially if you get a 3G one - no wifi required, assuming that you are in an AT&T coverage area. Sideloading is easy, too, via USB connection.

Thanks Susan, he was the one that mentioned Calibre to me, so he was researching it, and I can only assume you can convert with that (which means he can chew it and regurgitate). But if its a more tedious issue then I would have to do it first and teach him how to (which I love my father, but isn't possible at the moment).

[speakingtohe]

I would suggest that he tries using calibre himself, and point him to the calibre forum on mobile reads if he is not using it already.

Also his sister should be able to tell you/him if they carry online ebooks and direct him to someone willing to help him in that area if he needs it.

Sounds to me like he wants an ereader so he will go to some trouble on his own.

Helen

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Katie1

TABLET! You can put the different FREE apps on it giving him the freedom to buy eBooks from any store! ...

Correct.

There are no true "ebook readers" that are any more DRM and format "friendly" (read: polyamorous) than others. All of the current competitive models are format and DRM specific. You buy your books from Amazon, B&N, or Adobe, period. True, with Adobe you buy a "ticket" from the storefront of your choice and then redeem it with Adobe, but it still boils down to just three sources for DRM'd books.

The only way around this specificity at present is to use a general purpose computer running separate apps for whichever DRM types and formats you need. The smaller 7" tablets are a close match to the current "standard" ebook reader form factor, though generally a bit heavier and, due to their backlit displays, they have much shorter battery life per charge, otherwise they fit the bill rather well.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by dwig

True, with Adobe you buy a "ticket" from the storefront of your choice and then redeem it with Adobe, but it still boils down to just three sources for DRM'd books.

It boils down to something similar, but Adobe themselves don't house or distribute books at all. They sell Content Server 4 which is used by distributors/stores like OverDrive, LightningSource, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Books on Board, etc. to sell DRM'd content (well, it'll do non-DRM'd stuff too).

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by Katie1

TABLET! You can put the different FREE apps on it giving him the freedom to buy eBooks from any store!

This. It's what my girlfriend and I both did, and we're thrilled with it. We both got Kobo Vox e-reader tablets. We went with Kobo because it's a dominant player in our region (Canada) and therefore had a huge selection of books, and because you can access Kobo's store on almost any device you can imagine (either through downloading an app, or through other means with a big of ingenuity). We went with a tablet-style e-reader, instead of an e-ink-style e-reader, because it enhanced the ability to run alternative e-reader applications, access more e-reader stores, and because it lets us read in the dark in bed if one of us goes to sleep and turns out the light before the other (better, in our experience, than an e-ink e-reader and a booklight does).

As a bonus you can do thinks like play music off the tablet as you read, if that's your thing (it is my girlfriend's, it's not mine), stream Netflix to it, play games, check email, etc. I love that with the tablet I can swap to the web browser to research something that the book inspires me to investigate, and the browsing experience on a tablet e-reader is far superior to an e-ink e-reader.

Almost any Android tablet will do if all you want to do is read books, and you can choose based on price, form factor, etc. From there, if you want to keep it simple, you just download the Kobo app, the Kindle app, etc. An iPad, or one of the forthcoming Windows 8 tablets, will probably work just as well but will cost more and offer less choice than an Android tablet (though I'm no Android fanboy, I'll almost certainly be getting a Win8 tablet when they come out). Once you've got a few e-book market apps on your tablet you can compare prices and selections and buy as appropriate. No technical know-how or hacking required.